STRIGID^ — THE OWLS. 



93 



g together in large 





Speotyto hypogcp.n. 



between the Pacific coast and the Mississippi River, especially in the lower 



plains in Nebraska and in Kansas, as well as in particular districts in Utah, 



Arkansas, New Mexico, the Indian Territory, Texas, Arizona, California, and 



Mexico. They are usually very abundant, congregatin 



communities, and 



differing from most 



members of their 



family by living and 



breeding in burrows 



inthe oTound. Their 



habits are peculiar 



and interesting. 



Tliomas Say, dur- 

 ing Colonel Long's 

 expedition to the 

 Eocky Mountains, 

 was the first of 

 American natural- 

 ists to meet with 

 this bird. He encountered it in our trans-Mississippian Territories, where 

 he described it as residing exclusively in the villages of the prairie-dog, 

 whose excavations are so commodious as to make it unnecessary for the 

 bird to dig for itself, which it is able to do when occasion requires. These 

 villages are very numerous, and variable in their extent, sometimes cover- 

 ing only a few acres, and at others spreading over the surface of the coun- 

 try for miles togetlier. Tliey are composed of slightly elevated mounds, 

 having the form of a truncated cone, about two feet in width at base, and 

 seldom rising as high as eighteen inches above the surface. The entrance 

 is at the top or on the side. From the entrance the passage descends 

 vertically one or two feet, and thence it continues obliquely downward 

 until it terminates in the snug apartment where these animals enjoy their 

 winter's sleep, and where they and the Owls are common, but unfriendly, 

 occupants. 



Mr. Dresser noticed this bird at all seasons, in the prairie country of 

 Texas. They were rather common near the Eio Leon and Medina, and 

 in one place he found they had taken possession of some deserted rat-holes. 

 He obtained several specimens near San Antonio and at Eagle Pass. In the 

 latter place he found them quite common on the sand plains near the town. 

 The stomachs of those he shot were found to contain coleopterous insects 

 and field-mice. 



Dr. Newberry states that he found this species in Northern California, in 

 several places between San Francisco and Fort Peading, and again at the 

 Klamath Basin, though less frequently at tlie northward than in the Sacra- 

 mento Valley. There they occupied the l)urrows made by the Beechey's 



